Disturbed and Korn Part 2

          As exited as I was for this opportunity, I wasn't entirely sure what kind of procedures I would have to go through in order to get the interview set up. Usually the people I interview for the radio station contact me and aren't nearly as big a name as Disturbed and Korn. Who do you even speak with to let the band know you want to interview them?  I was told that the best thing I could do was call the number on the flyer and talk to people that put them up. So I did and ended up playing a ridicules game of phone tag with them.
          After getting a bit frustrated about jumping from phone call to phone call and seemingly getting nowhere, I decided to take a more direct approach to the situation. Let's see them try and bounce me around when they see me in person. So I searched online and found out where there company was located, I than put the address into my GPS and drove there. It took a bit of searching, but I eventually found them.
          After walking through the front door I introduced myself to a lady sitting at a desk. I told her that I was the News Director of my college station and that I was interested in setting up an interview with Disturbed and/or Korn. After a bit of questioning she than asked me which members of the bands I'd like to speak to. Now because I was setting up a phone interview I would only be able to talk to one person. So I told her that "I would like to speak to David Draiman from Disturbed and/or Jonathan Davis from Korn." I figured I could do two separate interviews with each lead singer if need be.
          She than told me she would do what she could to get things set up. I thanked her very much for her help and went back to my apartment. Time went by and I didn't receive any calls about how things were going. So I decided to contact her to see how things were progressing. She explained that she was having difficulty getting in contact with the bands and setting anything up. So she told me to giver her a call another time to see how things were going.
          This kind of phone call took place multiple times, all the way up to a week before the show. During a talk with a friend of mine I mentioned the problem I was having. He told me that he didn't think the lady ever intended to set met up for an interview. She just wanted to give me the runaround so that I wouldn't bother them. As much as I didn't want to believe him, I figured he might be right. After all, I had notified her months in advance of the concert so that she would have plenty of time to do what she needed to do. I was bummed. I thought I was so close to achieving a life dream.
          "All well" I thought to myself "at least it will be cool to see them at the concert". As that thought went through my head a light bulb went on. "THAT"S IT!" my mind screamed " I could meet with them the day of the concert and do the interview with one of our portable recording devices." Doing it that way I could record everyone in the band. I made a final call to my contact to see if this was doable. I don't remember what she said, but it wasn't too helpful. I decided that I would get to the campus the morning of the show and see if I could talk with someone about doing a quick interview. I had a new plan and was ready to put it to the test. This story will be continued in the next post.

Disturbed and Korn Part 1

          Disturbed and Korn are my favorite bands and have been for a long time. I have all their albums and know almost all their songs by heart. When I'm questioned about why I like them so much I answer, "because they sing about issues that are relevant to my life".  As I explained to two friends of mine, most of the songs I would hear as a kid were about two things, "money" and "sex". These were the song topics that almost everyone at school seemed to be listening to. But even though some of the songs sounded good, I could never get into them.
          The reason was because I had no personal connection with them. I wasn't drowning in money and I didn't have a bunch of hot girls flocking around me like these artists would sing about in their songs and videos. Eventually I discovered the band Disturbed, and than Korn. Not only did they play awesome music, but I was able to make that personal connection with their songs that I didn't have before. They actually helped me to deal with emotional problems that I've had to deal with in life.
          I often use the music of Disturbed as a source of empowerment and strength. So when I feel afraid or nervous I will play one of their songs to make me feel stronger. Korn on the other hand helps me to release negative emotions that I have. When I'm hurt or am haunted my painful memories, I use their songs to help me cope with the problem that I am dealing with. Each band has had a great impact on my life.
          In the past I would often wonder "If I was given the chance to see only one of them, who would I pick?" I could never pick one over the other. Luckily it was a choice I never had to make because the opportunity to see both of them fell right into my lap. This past fall I was going through my semester at Monmouth University when I started hearing a rumor that Disturbed and Korn were going to be playing live. Doing my best to not get overly excited, I decided to check if the rumor was true. I looked online and found out that they were in fact going to be at my college.
           Now at this time I was the News Director of the college radio station and every Wednesday the board members would get together and talk about what needed to be done. Our station advisor started off the meeting by letting us know how the station has been doing. He than held up a flyer to us that read "Disturbed and Korn Live at Monmouth University". After reading off the information to us he asked if anyone wanted to do anything with this event, like setting up an interview or something along those lines. My arm shot up so fast it was nearly ripped from it's socket. But just to make sure I had his full attention I started banging the desk next to me. Either nobody else wanted the task or they saw how badly I wanted it and didn't want to fight for it.
          Our advisor told me that I could be the one to set something up with the bands. I was so excited I was nearly jumping up and down, or maybe I was. It was decided that the best thing I could do was set up a phone interview with one of the bands. I than took the information I needed and started coming up with a plan for what I was going to do.
          What are the odds? This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. Not only was I going to see both perform, but now I had the chance to interview one of them. I wonder if our advisor had any idea how far I would go to get the interview. This story will be continued.

Burned Part 2

          My parents were pretty shocked I had messed up my leg so bad. They decided that the first thing that needed to be done was to clean it out. So they had me sit down on the counter while they grabbed the best tool for the job, hydrogen peroxide. Now as I said in the last post, I hadn't felt any pain because the nerves had been destroyed on the surface. But that all changed when they poured that stupid hydrogen peroxide on my leg and in sank into my skin. It BURNED like crazy. I would say that it hurt even more than when my leg was stuck to the motor.
          After having the all the dirt and grim come burning to the surface, they decided that it would be a good idea to pour even more on just to be safe. They than wiped the puss off my wound and started wrapping it up in gauze. A doctors visit was immediately scheduled for me.
          For the visit the doctor started by cleaning it out with some fluid and a type of sponge. It was actually kind of soothing, but the medication he used still kind of burned. He than used tweezers and scissors to cut the dead skin from my leg. When he was done he wrapped up my leg and sent me on my way with my mom. I would have to come back multiple times to get the bandages changed.
          I've scene cases on TV where people go through maggot therapy to have dead skin removed and have wondered if I would have preferred that instead. It may seem gross to have maggots crawling on you, but I think it would have been less painful. Of course with my imagination as a kid I would have been too scared that they would start eating into my leg and start nesting.
          Any way, the healing process was awful. The days weren't so bad, I just couldn't do any outdoor activities. The nights however, were by far the worst part. I would be forced to stay up because the wound would itch and burn, but I couldn't touch it because it was wrapped up. I have found that when ever I have some kind of medical problem, particularly involving my skin, the symptoms get far worse during the night. Such incidents have literally drove me insane. Maybe I'll make a post about the time I got poison sumac and tried going to sleep with my head in a bucket of ice water while using a snorkel to breath. So back to the story, my summer was ruined. I have never ridden my bike in shorts since I went through that ordeal.

Burned Part 1

          Since I was seven years I old I have ridden a dirt bike. I was inspired to ride after seeing the movie Terminator 2, after that I wanted a motorcycle. So on Christmas day I received a Honda dirt bike for kids. From that day on I loved to take my bike out and have fun riding in our woods. During my long riding career I have gone through many accidents and crashes. I am going to share with you the most damaging accident I got myself into.
          My dad had always told be to make sure to wear long pants when I road, so if I fell my legs I would have some level of protection. Well one day I decided that I didn't want to waste my time putting on my jeans and went to ride with just shorts on. This was the first and last time I ever did this. While I was riding in our woods a friend of mine decided that he wanted to join me. The only problem was that he had a bicycle and so was kind of slow going around the trail.
          So we were riding around the woods and he was in front of me. For some reason he decided to stop right in front of me. Because I was riding on dirt, I would have still hit him even if I hit the brake. So I did my best to get around him, but I was too close and we clipped handlebars. I struggled to maintain my balance, but I ended up falling on top of my bike.
          I laid there for a second, annoyed that he had stopped. Than I felt a burning sensations on my left thigh. I looked down and saw that my leg was lying on the motor. I immediately went to pull my leg off, but my skin had melted to the motor. So I had to carefully pull myself off. It was like trying to pull off a pancake that was stuck to a frying pan.
          Eventually I was free, with a third degree burn on my leg. I didn't feel any pain because the nerves had been destroyed and I didn't bleed because the wound was cauterized. I looked over and saw that my friend was getting back up. He actually had the nerve to give me crap for hitting his bar. So he went back to his home, while I took my bike back to our shed. I than limped my way into the house. This post will be concluded with the awful healing process I had to go through.

Shocked

          During my life I have been electrocuted many times. In some cases it was done intentionally, and in others it wasn't. I could actually make a few different posts on different times that I was shocked. Most of the time I end up shocking myself by using one of those prank toys. Where you touch a button and you get zipped by the item.  This shock story I am about to tell is not about one of those toys.
          I was walking down a road with my family and happened to be walking by a farm. I saw that it was surrounded by a wire fence, which was used to keep the animals in the yard. Now if it had said it was an ELECTRIC FENCE, I probably wouldn't have done what I did next. Than again, maybe I would have. Any way, I saw this as a great opportunity to play army man. I could be the soldier and I would have to crawl under the fence to get behind enemy lines. My family was ahead of me so they didn't see what I was doing.
          I got down on my stomach, and started to make my way through. I got as close to the ground as possible, but than I saw that a big rock was in my way. As I moved through I used my arms to lift myself over the rock. The next thing I know I am slammed towards the ground. The force was so strong it was like somebody had stomped on me. My head smacked into the rock that was right below me. I laid there for a second to figure out what had happened, than pulled myself away from the fence.
          At that point I realized that the fence was electric. The scary part was that I didn't feel any pain from hitting the rock. I think I may have damaged a nerve or something. I got up and started walking to catch up with my family. I wasn't bleeding, so I figured I was OK.

Grinding Granny

          During my time DJ-ing I have seen senior citizens pull some wild dance moves. But nothing can compare to what I had to deal with during a boat party last summer. I was standing next to my boss watching the crowed when I saw something that truly disturbed me. This skinny old lady was dancing in the crowed and pulling moves that, well, you wouldn't expect from a woman of her age. To make matters worse, I noticed that every so often she would look at me behind the DJ table.
          My boss noticed her looking at me and told me to go dance with her. I told him that there was no way that was going to happen. After a bit I noticed that she was just staring at me while she danced. I did my best to ignore her, but she started dancing towards me. "No, no, no" I just kept thinking to myself. She walked up to my side, wrapped herself around my right arm, and said to my boss "Hi, I just found found out I no longer have cancer. Can I dance with your friend here while you play It's Raining Men". "Oh God this isn't happening" I thought. "Yea sure honey" he answered "Have a good time with him". Holding my arm she dragged me away from the table and into the crowed.
          At first we danced on our own. This I could deal with. She danced on her side, I danced on mine, and there would be no physical contact. Unfortunately, this didn't last for very long. Next thing I know she turns herself around and starts grinding on me. This included the act of bending over and pressing up against me. It was an extremely uncomfortable position to be in.
          For some reason she starts telling me that I remind her of her grandson. I hope for his sake he doesn't know this side of his grandmother. If I ever saw my grandmother dancing like this I would be mortified. When it was over she gave me a hug and I went back to my post. This was not the last time I would have to deal with dancing with a wild grandmother. But because it was the first and most disturbing, it left the greatest imprint on my mind.

Bag of Bones

          This story is going to be one about my sister. It was on a day when her friend had come over our house to play. It was one of the girls first visits to our house and Chelsea had taken her across the street to the woods to go exploring. I don't know what they did while they were out there, I just saw them after they had come back. The mother had come back to pick up her kid and was talking to my mom in the driveway. Eventually my mom started calling Chelsea to get her to come back. Soon the two of them were spotted walking back and Chelsea had a bag with her.
          When they were close enough they were asked what they had been doing across the woods. They just said that they were playing around. Finally, my mom asked Chelsea what she had in the bag. I watched as she unzipped the pack and and turned the bag upside down. Out dropped the bones of a long dead deer. I know it was a deer because I recognized the skull that had dropped out. With a look of alarm the mother said goodbye to our family and drove off with her girl. "Well that must have made a good first impression on the mom" I thought to myself.

The Ugly, The Bad, and The Good.

          This post isn't so much going to be a story, as it is an observation I have made. I'm going to explain the relationship between myself and my siblings. As well as our own unique qualities. I am the oldest of us. Than came my sister Chelsea and than my brother Nick. I would say that it took my parents three tries to create what some would consider to be a perfect child.
          I was the first to come along and brought with me both physical and mental problems. Some of the physical problems I have include, but are not limited to scoliosis, a hole in my diaphragm, and a punctured lung. This has led to frequent trips to the hospital and undergoing various medical treatments. However, now that I am older I don't need to deal with any more major medical issues.
          My mental problems include, but are not limited to obsessive compulsive disorder, dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, and hyperactivity. Most people would never know I had these problems unless they were told or if I took my shirt off and they saw my multiple scars from surgery. I have these traits to thank for making my life as adventurous as it is.
          My sister was the next to arrive. She just brought with her the mental side of the problems. She has similar mental problems as me, but arguably a bit worse. The reason they are worse is because they have a greater impact on her life, causing her to make rash decisions and dealing with extreme mood-swings. This can drive the people around her absolutely insane. I have had plenty of guys tell me how good looking my sister is and how they would love to go out with her. If only they knew what they would be getting themselves into.
          Finally came our little brother. He was born with none of our faults and some of our strengths, along with his own of course. He is smart, funny, rational, calm, and athletic. He is the all around perfect kid with hardly any problems. As my friend Dave once said to me "If there is anything Nicky ever did wrong, I am convinced that you or Chelsea somehow dragged him into it".
          So there you have it. There's me "the ugly", Chelsea "the bad", and Nick "the good". The reason I made this post is because I wanted to use it as an introduction for future stories that are about my brother and sister. On the chance that one of my siblings is reading this, I want you to know that I love you both very much.

Alien Interview Part 2

          It was my original intention to put the recording of the interview in this post so that you could hear it for yourself, but I haven't yet figured how to successfully do that. So instead I'm going to give you an overview of what was said during the interview. But if I ever figure it out I will post the recording. I'll tell you about the parts I think you'll enjoy, but I can't tell you everything because the interview went for a half hour and it would be too long to write out.
          Any way, I'm in the studio with the girls and the one girl named Alyssa is controlling the board since she was the one who invited Riley. He started off by telling us about the first time he was taken by the aliens at the age of seven. According to Riley these aliens are called the Ovions and their mother ship is located near the rings of Saturn. He than starts telling us how these aliens have been visiting us for a very long time.
          The funny thing is that I think the other two girls were so freaked by what this guy was saying that they were silent for the beginning part of the interview. My friend Brittany's jaw dropped farther as this guy kept talking. I had to move myself away from the mic because I was laughing and didn't want Riley to hear me. He than starts explaining the alien body structure with such detail that it is almost believable.
          I eventually got to give my first question to Riley. I asked him what the aliens ate. He told me that they are vegetarians, however, they will make you anything you want to eat while aboard their ship. So while your being abducted they'll make you a nice meal that's healthy for you. He also told us how he got into a telepathic fight with a different race of alien and won. But they took a portion of his right small finger as a form of revenge.
          Riley also starts saying how you can bring your family and/or family pet as a companion when your being taken by the aliens. This part of the conversation led him to make the claim that animals can talk. But it is only possible if you rig them to the right electronic devices. Don't ask me what that's supposed to mean. He than told us that animals can talk in simple sentences, but can't hold a conversation.
          Alyssa posed the question if a human and alien could fall in love. This lead him to tell us how he has had sexual relations with different alien females, which led to the birth of offspring. He never explained what happened to these alien babies. I wish I had jokingly asked him to hook me up with an alien, but my mind was so baffled by what he was saying that I didn't think of it until after the show. The show ended with him promoting his website as he had done through out the interview. We said our goodbyes and that was it.
          At the end I was nearly bouncing off the walls. It was the greatest interview I had ever heard and it was on my show. As soon as I could, I got the recording of the show, saved it on my computer, and had almost everyone I knew listen to it. I just wish you guys could hear it because as wild as it may be for you to hear me explain it to you, it is so much better to hear the interview itself. Hopefully I'll figure out a way to post it in the future.

Alien Interview Part 1

          One of the classes that I took at my college was Talk Radio. For the class we were required to put on a weekly radio show on a particular subject with our co-hosts. I ended up partnering with three girls, and the four us hosted a talk radio show about paranormal topics. So for the show we would talk about ghosts, aliens, monster legends, and conspiracies. At some point our teacher wanted each group to have a live interview with someone that was relevant to the issues they talked about. After much searching one of the girls had found someone we could interview.
          She explained that the man's name was Riley Martin and that he has had experiences with aliens. The guy sounded perfect, so we scheduled a date and prepared for the show. I had figured this was going to be one of those cases where the person claims they saw a bright light moving in the sky or claimed to have been abducted by aliens, something common like that. I couldn't have been more wrong. After doing my research I found out this guy was going to be so much more fun.
          During a family dinner I mentioned the interview to everyone. My dad and two uncles actually recognized the guys name. They explained to me that they knew him from being on the Howard Stern show. They also told me that he had made an appearance on Jerry Springer. I was totally excited for the interview now. If you want to learn more about Riley Martin you can look him up online.
          In the days leading up to the show my co-hosts and I talked about what we had learned about Riley. We were blown away by the things this guy claimed happened to him. Finally, the day came and we were thrilled. The interview was over the phone so Riley called in from his location and we put him on the air. After a bit of technical difficulty in the beginning, we managed to get him on. Even with all the stuff I had learned about him, I still wasn't prepared for what came out of this guys mouth. To be continued in the next post.

F-ck!

          This story took place while I was on my college radio station DJ-ing. I was in the studio talking to a friend of mine while letting the music play on it's own. I had turned down the volume so that the music didn't play in the studio, but still went out over the air. Now when I apply to be a host I have to sign a contract that says I can't play or say any curse words over the air. If I do than I have to pay a fine of $325,000 per word. That is not a typo. The fine is three-hundred twenty-five thousand dollars for each curse word. Also, the music we play has already been prearranged on a program which plays over the air in a specific order. However, if we choose to switch up the songs on the program so we can listen to a song we like, we are allowed to do so. With that being said I can get back to the story.
          So there I was talking to my friend and not hearing what was being played over the air. All of a sudden our station advisor came bursting through the studio door with a look of alarm on his face. "Are they saying f-ck on the air?" he asked. Apparently he had been listening to the show in his office. I than turned up the studio volume to hear what song was being played. To the shock of my friend and I we heard the singer yelling "f-ck f-ck f-ck" over and over again. I immediately hit the "next" button on the board and the next song started playing. "What song was that?" my advisor asked. "I don't know" I said "I didn't check the computer to find out".
          He walked on over to the computer and looked at the last song played. It read "Seven Words by Deftones". He than went online to see if he could find the lyrics. As he started searching I asked "I can't get in trouble for this right? After all I wasn't the one that put it on, it was already on the schedule". "Actually you can Chris" he responded. "What! Why?" I asked. But he ignored me as he found the lyrics online. After looking them over he said "What is this song?" he asked "All it is is curse word after curse word. How did this even get into the system?" He than walked out in search of someone that could give him an explanation.
          I looked at the lyrics and to my very slight relief, the singer had been saying suck. But it could very easily have been mistaken for f-ck. It had managed to full my advisor. The next time I turned on the mic I pretended that nothing had happened and finished the show as normal. After I was done I looked at the lyrics again. Just based on what was said during the main chorus's alone, I was looking at over TEN MILLION DOLLARS in fines. I was so scared I nearly felt sick. Where the hell does anyone get over ten million dollars? I would sooner kill myself than take on a debt like that. The only way I would be able to get out of this would be if nobody reported me to the FCC.
          The next day I ran into into the advisor again. He explained to me that the curse words had in fact been edited. But because of the way the main chorus was performed it was hard to tell. So no charges could be brought up against me or the station. Words can not express how relieved I was.